You reach the castle before noon, and find the front gate broken open by sheer force.
The carnage is a mere two or three days old; scavenger birds are picking at the bodies still. Despite the damage they have done, it is evident that this is the work of ghouls killing and devouring the occupants of the castle, assisted by vampires. It is likely that the party you killed made a pit stop here.
No one is alive, but there are some horses penned in the stables who have not been tended for a few days.
--M. J. Young
*sighs*
*I will feed, water and clean the stables of the horses, and gather the bodies up in a pile, if there is a noble dressed among them, I will keep his separate. I will gather wood for a funeral pyre, and do a search through the keep to make sure there aren't any new vampires or ghouls here. Once I am satisfied that the coast is clear, I will gather the weapons and armor, clean them and put them back in the armory and take stock of just how big this place is and formulate a new plan.*
*I will try to telepathically contact my wife*
"Hello Geneice, I am at a fortress south of Camelot, the vampires and ghouls sacked it. I think I have a new plan. I think I will have us make this the base of operations where we train these people. We'll call it The Stonefist Academy for Martial Tradition. We can then watch the recruits and take select ones from there, and form the subgroup Rangers from them, and send them one at a time to their new "homes". We do this slow getting new recruits in, training them, sending certain ones out, so that they don't know who is a part of the Stonefist, and who is part of the Rangers. It also allows us to build an elite fighting force as a whole, aside from the Rangers. I will try to teleport back to the grove tonight, once I made this place familiar enough to teleport back here when I need to."
Adam
You find the bodies of what might be the elderly king and his middle-aged son amongst the fighters in the front hall, and among the women are one who might have been the queen and two perhaps her daughters, although it is not always easy to identify the nobles from their knights or serving women in such situations. There are none that you would expect will return from the dead apart from Ragnorak, although it is clear the men fought bravely and you have some hope some of them might fight beside you there. There is a crypt beneath the chapel, but the bodies there have clearly decayed to dust, and you've never encountered an undead skeleton in this world.
The vampires broke into the treasure room and removed some of the treasure, and it was not so wealthy a kingdom as that the remainder is that impressive, but it is enough to run such a castle for many years. The village below is a smouldering ruin; the vampires apparently burned that after they had finished here. The flocks are scattered across the common and getting into the crops, but it would take more manpower than you've got to put all that in order.
Geniece asks whether "knightly" would be a better word; "martial" is so Roman. Otherwise she approves the plan. She notes that Merlin probably won't come with you, but that might be just as well, as he should be training Arthur fairly soon, and the two of you should probably get out of his way.
--M. J. Young
*grins as he hears her talk back*
"You are right dear, but we are more like assassins than knights. I suppose it's just semantics, we are going to teach them what they need to know to fight them. This world needs commandos more than knights, but that's what we are here for. As for Merlin your right, we are going to be on our own soon enough. I need you to hire 30 people from Camelot, we need people to tend the animals, grow food, take care of the place. There is money here to run it for years, and between the treasure we got from the other vampires, we should be good. Five of the people I want to be warriors, we need to train the first class, and get them to teach to gather others. I love you my pumpkin."
*I will start digging graves manually, I don't want to risk magic. I will look for pictures to separate the nobles, from the others, but will try to gatherer all their names from personal belongings, looks like I have a lot of work to do here before she comes, cleaning up, making grave markers, trying to get the animals under control*
Adam
A couple hours later she contacts you again.
"You should be ready to answer questions about how you came to be Lord of the Castle. You may be Lord Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist, and I Lady Jade Bladesong of the Stonefist, but someone is sure to know who was in that castle before we arrived."
She promises to find you within the week, with at least some new workers.
--M. J. Young
*nods* "Lest you forget my love, I am part of the line of Arthur. With no king, I am just steward over the castle, and the matter will be settled when a new king crowned. Since we have an in with the future king, I won't let a castle so close to Camelot fall under the control of undead, or left to rot. The needs of the many of this world, will outweigh the needs of the few. There should be enough paperwork here to familiarize myself with the lineage, and insert myself in a proper place as to avoid scrutiny to that point."
*doing what he can to make this place not a sight of a massacre before the wife and workers arrive*
Adam
My recollection is that the front gate (into the outer bailey) was smashed. The inner castle doors (into the fort proper) are also broken. Other damage is relatively minor, but you have the bodies to bury and/or burn and a substantial amount of decaying gore to remove. The bodies are attracting carrion birds and making the horses uncomfortable.
All of this is to ask what you are prioritizing. Did you want to fix either the outer or inner doors first, or are you going to await the arrival of Geneice' crew to have them address these problems and figure you can handle the defenses if anything comes before then? You're looking at several days work, at least, to do it all yourself, remembering that you also have to make sure the horses are all maintained in some way and feed yourself (and Horace, although he can probably feed himself if you prefer) in the process.
--M. J. Young
*Bodies first, I'm not worried about the doors, feeding the horses, gore cleaning, I will ask Horace to please feed himself, and will um fix food for myself, to make my job easier will use the dig spell to dig the graves, at least to move the earth out, I will have to separate each grave, but getting the dirt out will save a significant amount of time I can devote to other areas of the cleanup*
*looks at the doors one last time*
"I pity the fool(s) who try to storm this keep with me here, I am in no mood for games."
Adam
It takes most of the rest of the day to deal with the bodies; dusk is definitely upon you as you finish the task, but it is finished.
I'm assuming you're going to use your 3@9 Alert Rest B10@2 rather than sleeping, assuming it succeeds. Are you going to be in the courtyard or within the keep itself, or somewhere else?
--M. J. Young
*I will do alert rest, I will be behind the broken gate in case anyone is unwise enough to enter*
Adam
You settle in and center your mind and body for a period of alert rest, and quickly move into that state in which reality is crisp around you yet you are totally relaxed and not thinking.
The darkness is broken by an early setting moon which gives way to stars; but it is enough light that you see the four figures come through the gate.
"Are you sure it's safe?" one of them whispers hoarsely.
"Safe? You want safe?" another mocks. "Study for the priesthood."
"You know what I mean."
"I know what he means. We don't know who attacked this castle or busted down the gates--didn't see no armies with battering rams--but someone powerful did it, and it don't make no sense for them to bust open the castle and leave it undefended."
"I tell you, there's been no one here for a couple days. I been watching it. One guy was nosing around earlier today, prob'ly a priest or something, was trying to bury the dead. If he's a priest, he wasn't looking for no treasure, right?"
"I dunno. I've known some priests who were pretty keen on getting me to part with my treasure."
"Yeah, but not one as would bury the dead first, right?"
"Maybe. So he left?"
"Musta done, right? Who would sleep in a place that had been busted open like a egg?"
--M. J. Young
*smiles*
*using move silently, getting to my feet and getting behind them*
"The person who would sleep in here would be me, and since you aren't vampires or ghouls, and are stupid enough to wander around at night, you must be down on your luck. Yes there is a vast amount of treasure here, no I am not a priest, I just respect people who gave their lives in battle. I offer you a deal, there is treasure here, if the four of you can beat me, your welcome to it. I will be unarmed, if you four lose, since I am sparing your lives, the boon I ask is to stay here, and be trained to become people who do not need to live their lives as scavengers. It's the best deal you will get, and since I'm confident I can beat all four of you at once with my bare hands, you will once I determine your outlook has changed, be able to do the same yourselves."
*pauses*
"I am Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist, come at me."
*getting into Ku Fung, Doing disarm weaponless if they are armed, immobilizer when they are disarmed, basically not looking to kill them, just show them how outclassed they are, I am happy to play the entire combat out, defenses I think I will only need Panaramic Awareness and Muscle Blocking up, I don't think Missile weapons will be an issue*
Adam
They visibly jump when your voice comes from behind them; one of them says one word we won't print here.
You make your speech.
"Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist, ay? O.K., let's see what you've got," the seemingly brave one says, stepping forward a pace and raising his fists--and then running toward the open front of the inner keep. His companions are caught flat-footed for about a second, but are off in his wake before you know it.
--M. J. Young
*shakes his head and does a great leap to block the doorway of the inner keep and socks the brave one in the jaw with no style, no +DC, just a regular old punch*
"That's a good way to end up with an arrow in your back, absolutely pathetic, if there are a sadder excuse for men in all of England, I would be hard pressed to find them. So are we going to fight, or are you just going to sit there and bleed?"
Adam
You easily leap past them and cut them off at the pass, landing a jaw-jarring blow to the apparent leader, who is stopped in his tracks.
The others are a bit, well, terrified.
"Beggin' your pardon, my lord, we din't mean to trespass on the claim of a wizard. I don't think I could fight someone who can use magic like that."
He seems very nervous about his situation.
--M. J. Young
*sighs*
"That was not magic, that was training my legs to jump really far, I do know magic that can accomplish the same feat. I am human flesh and blood, and I really am not the person you should be worried about. The things that did this to this castle and its people are what you should be worried about. 23 beings killed and savaged every single living person in this keep. I need help, you guys look like you need someone to offer you help. I offer you a chance to be better than you are now, to be in a position to help each other, and move beyond petty thievery. I am not a priest, I am a warrior, and I seek to train other warriors to fight the darkness of the night. The real treasure here is the opportunity I am offering, not some trinkets or gold."
*pauses*
"My wife is bringing workers to help run this place, I need men to help make this place decent enough so that we can begin work to rebuild and make this place suitable for training. If you help, you four can be the first ones, who carry the training to others. There is a darkness out there, and the only way to stop it is to be prepared. I am Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist, there is my offer, decide if you want to work together for something better, or brave the darkness and find the creatures that did this, your call."
Adam
Hesitantly, one of them asks, "Are you--are you offering to train us as knights?"
The question seems to boggle them, as if they can't imagine that this would be possible.
--M. J. Young
*smiles*
"Knights of a different order, but yes, it's the closest thing to what it is. I am not worried about nobility or backrounds. I need men and women, yes women who want to learn how to defend yourselves and others. My wife is just as powerful and just as capable warrior as I am. We cannot fight the darkness alone, so we have made the decision to train others, to do more than 2 of us could do on our own."
*pauses*
"That will be once we get this place back up and running. If you help with the cleanup tomorrow, and repairing the gates, sleeping in beds with full stomachs isn't a far fetched notion.
Adam
They look at each other, some of them muttering, almost arguing. Then the one who seems to be the leader says, "All right, we're your men. We'll help get the place in order, but we'll need some dinner before too long as we're not going to last long on empty stomachs. Should we begin with the front gate? You never know who or what might wander in." He smiles at this, knowing that he's made a joke, but his men don't seem to get it.
--M. J. Young
*grins a little*
"Work on the front gates in the morning, and we'll check the pantry now, and see what we have. Luckily the creatures here were very unlikely to be concerned with eating, so we might be in luck.
"The inside is not clean yet, so after that lets all head back out to behind the gate, and I will keep watch while I sleep, the rest of you can get some rest."
*Will do my Alert Rest again*
Adam
As you expected, there is plenty of preserved food--salt pork, bacon, pickled vegetables, pickled meats, dried fruits and biscuit, plus beer, wine, and ale in the cellars. Your adopted brigands are definitely hungry and eager to feast.
--M. J. Young
*smiles*
"Ok guys calm down, gorging yourselves is not going to do us any good. This food has to last till we get this place to ship shape, and we can get crops, animals, and trade going. Everyone is getting a plate full of food, and we will share a bottle of wine. So we eat, we rest until morning behind the gates. Tomorrow we work on the gates, next day we clean the gore, and the day after, we round up the free roaming animals, and fix their pens. My wife should be back around that time with the help, and we can get to start the training."
Adam
Actually, wine in this milieu generally comes in casks, not bottles. Glass, where available, is considerably more costly than wine. Skins and earthen jugs with corks are also used, but it's cheaper by the cask.
You get control of your brood, get them fed and settled in the courtyard, and pass the rest of the night without incident. However, you don't get back to your centered rest, and so spend several hours awake. You can push through until morning or go to sleep, as you prefer.
--M. J. Young
*I will push through, I'm sure I will get it the following night, and I did get a few hours tonight. We will fix the gates today, and if that goes quickly, then the animal pens.*
Adam
It looks as if all the pieces for the gate are here, although some of the hinges and bolts are bent or torn and the iron-reinforced oak crossbar broke down the middle of its length. You can get the doors upright in their places, but you're going to have to fix the hinges to get them to support the weight of the heavy oak and iron doors when they swing freely. You can certainly keep the doors closed, but it will be difficult to secure them without a new or repaired crossbar.
The portcullis was raised and jammed in a partly raised position apparently by bending the iron in the tracks.
--M. J. Young
*I take them with me to chop down a tree, I will grab an axe from the keep and drag it back, I should be strong enough to do so, I will use the axe and or the vibrating katana to shear it off to make a new crossbar, So doors closed, new crossbar, as for the portcullis, I should also be strong enough to unbend the Iron in the tracks, I will use a shovel, or otherwise metal piece to help me accomplish this, then I will find a blacksmith hammer and work on the hinges if they are on the walls, if they are on the doors, same thing.*
Adam
You select a decent looking tree, and go at it with the axe--and the head promptly flies off into the woods, apparently not having been tightened recently. (Axe heads are tightened on wooden handles by driving metal wedges into the exposed ends to spread the handle; as the wood ages and dries, additional wedges are added.)
You draw your vibrokatana and activate the vibrations. It cuts through the wood reasonably quickly.
The men are staring in awe at the weapon.
--M. J. Young
*will get the axe head, not wasting good tools, when we need them. I will trim the branches off while here and let them carry them back for firewood, cooking wood, or repair wood*
*looks at all them and his Katana*
"Oh right, it probably looks like magic, it acts like magic. Well if you become trained and I can call you brothers, I will tell you the story behind these katanas, and how they were made. If I told you know, you'd think I was crazy."
*drag the tree back to the doors to cut it down to size*
Adam
The men gather up the trimmed branches, once again impressed at your ability to manage the trunk without assistance.
It takes most of the day to repair the door, between the hinges and the cross brace, but you have it finished before sunset and are able to put together a decent dinner from the stores once again. The men are tired, but as yet they are not grumbling.
--M. J. Young
*During dinner, I will let them know the plan for tomorrow*
"Tomorrow we are going to take those tree limbs and repair the animal pens as much as possible, gather the animals, and make sure they are taken care of. Animals are pretty good taking care of themselves, but they still need our attention. After that, we deal with the rest of the gore, and then the place will be livable again. We'll all be sleeping by the gates again, we'll use the branches to make a leanto shelter. The inside is not fit for sleeping, just from smell alone."
Adam
Having been inside, they nod agreement.
You settle down into your alert rest.
Sometime in the middle of the night it starts raining. It's not a hard rain, but it's going to awaken the men.
--M. J. Young
*I did mention the leanto shelter, made for things like rain, I know the materials, straw branches are here, and being right behind the gate in a corner, we have three sided protection from the rain, so I'm thinking that they probably will be fine with the percaution I put up*
*Either way will stick to the plan above, and I will continue my alert rest since I am tired*
Adam
You are right, and I remember it now that you mention it. The men are under the leanto, and you move in with them and continue your restful watch.
The rain clears by morning, leaving the area near the gate muddy and the grass elsewhere wet, but the sun is starting to dry everything.
"So, gov'ner--what do we call you? That name of yours is quite a mouthful."
"We should start the cleanup in the castle? Or wait--we're going to do the animal pens first, right? Or should we split up, some working at each?"
--M. J. Young
*Thinks*
"If Jhiaxus is too much, Master is fine, considering I am going to be teaching, and you learning, it seems appropiate. When my wife Geneice arrives, she will be Mistress, since she is my equal in training."
*Considers*
"Well we have two jobs to do, but it rained, it will take time to dry out, so let's shift the focus to the inside and deal with the gore, so we can consider sleeping in beds tonight. If we finish early, we do the pens, if not, we did something and we won't be miserable doing it."
Adam
I believe (although I could be remembering wrong) that you introduced yourself as Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist; I think they would find Jhiaxus acceptable if they can figure out how to pronounce it (I can never remember).
It's a sizable castle, but the sleeping quarters for most of the men and other servants is the great hall with its central firepit and smoke hole in the roof. There were more comfortable rooms for the family and special guests, warmed by braziers. Everyone, even the children, was rousted from bed during the attack, so there are no ruined beds or mattresses, although there are some pallets and blankets near the fire that will have to be cleaned or destroyed, and a few rugs that are stained beyond recovery.
It still takes the better part of the day to get it all removed.
You have probably fifteen private bedrooms, including the adjoining two that appear to be his and hers for the lord and lady of the place and one that is the nursery in which several children and a governess or nanny probably slept. That leaves you a dozen adult bedrooms apart from those. It is, again, apparent that most of the defenders of the castle and the workers in it slept together in the smokey great hall near the firepit.
--M. J. Young
((It's Gee-axe-us, I did give them Ashe first, which I was surprised they were unable to pronounce Ashe, which is Ash, and the last name is as it sounds. To me Jhiaxus is harder to pronounce, and Ashe should be easier since well it sounds like the tree))
*looks around at the great hall, knowing he will need to make bunk beds to support the kind of numbers he is looking for, there is plenty of wood, it's just the manpower and time, but it on the list of things to do.*
"Well let's have dinner, and we get to sleep inside tonight, I will call Horace to him, and see if he can sleep during the day inside and keep watch at night. If not I will let the men sleep, and I will construct a leanto on the upper walls of the castle and alert rest the entire night, I want to see people getting in and people leaving, like the men with the treasure. I would rather not sleep than sleep if Alert Rest doesn't work."
*Tomorrow it's the animals*
"Ok I need two teams, one team of three to round up the animals, and the other two repairing the fences and gates. I want three since animals are often not wanting to go back to confinement, and three people gives them less room to run. Once we finish that, that's all the hard repair work we have, and we go into training as soon as my wife arrives with the help. I also want to look for a good place outside the walls for a grove, to make sure both Merlin and the wolves have a place to contact him at."
Adam
Ah, but is it GEE-ax-us or gee-AX-us? That's the part that throws me--that, and I so often get an extra H in it, gee-HAX-us, which obviously is wrong.
But it wasn't that Ashe is difficult. It's that Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist is two mouthfuls, and peasants are generally named "John" and "Will" and "Mary", and anyone whose name is longer than that is shortened by them to "M'Lord" or "M'Lady". It would be inappropriate for them to call you "Ashe", but rather difficult for them to remember all of "Ashe Valerin of the Stonefist" every time they addressed you.
Hawks are inherently diurnal, and although you can keep him awake in the dark, he can't see in the dark and so will sleep at night if you're not keeping him awake. He will only sleep in the day if he's exhausted.
You could use magic to change that, I'm sure, but it's not something you can persuade him to do of his own.
The men build a fire in the firepit, and the main hall becomes smokey, but it's apparently what they expect. They sleep on the floor, finding blankets and pallets from the previous owners.
It's easiest to move your lean-to from the entry area to the battlements if that's what you want, although if you want to build a second lean-to that's certainly reasonable.
From your description, I'm assuming you're sleeping on the top of the tower, which is about four stories up. The alternative is that you're on the battlements of the outer wall, which is about two stories high and maybe eight feet wide. Both have crenelations that are about three feet up from the floor at the low point and five feet at the high. The outer wall has them only toward the outside; the inside wall is about three and a half feet high, to reduce the risk of falling off into the bailey.
I'm not certain where exactly you are positioned or which way you are looking; it sounds to me as if you are on the top of the toward looking toward the gate. Is that correct?
--M. J. Young
((Hmm it's gee-AXE-us))
*Might be something to think about, we'll let him keep me company on a perch up here while we rest. I would want to be on the top and looking toward the gate. I'll let the men sleep, they have been working hard.*
Adam
Sometime near midnight you hear a soft metallic chink from the direction of the gate.
A moment later you see a man pull himself over the battlement onto the wall, and look cautiously around.
--M. J. Young
*Wait for him to start moving around and try a mind reading on him to see if I can get that to work here, if not wait till he gets further in and start moving silently following him*
Adam